Insight Briefing | COP19 Warsaw - analysis on the outcomes

This briefing provides an overview and assessment of the annual UN climate conference that was held in Warsaw in Poland from November 11–22, and is part of our regular Insight series. The paper is complemented by a pre-COP briefing and blogs produced before and during the Warsaw summit respectively.

The 19th annual UN climate conference (COP19) concluded in Warsaw early on Sunday, November 24, more than 30 hours after its official closing—continuing what has become a familiar feature of international climate negotiations.

Although delivering a set of relatively low ambition decisions, Warsaw produced enough to keep countries on track to agreeing a new global climate deal at COP21 in Paris in 2015—provided that substantive progress is made in the coming 12 months and by COP20 in Lima, Peru next year. Whether negotiators did enough to keep the world on a path to less than 2°C of warming is far less certain, however.

This briefing takes a short look at COP19, including the atmospherics of the meeting, the main outcomes and the likely road ahead.